Our juvenile competitors competing in National
Indoor Championships in Nenagh and the Great Ireland Bupa run in the
Phoenix Park in Dublin last weekend were in tremendous form, returning
home with two titles, a silver and two bronze medals.
In Nenanagh on Saturday Rebecca Game was our first competitor into the
fray when she contested the U17 200m contest, and although she didn’t
reach the final, she should be well pleased with achieving a PB time for
the distance.
Conor Murray was next to compete in the U12 high jump contest and the
Dublin champion put in some great jumps to make the final cut involving
8 athletes. After a number of attempts at some new heights he finally
faltered at 1.20m, and although this was short of his best it was good
enough to secure a National bronze.
At U13 degree Killian Morris, the Dublin bronze medal winner, went into
his high jump competition as one of the underdogs, but equalled Conors
performance when he also took bronze with some fine jumping efforts.
The performances of our younger athletes certainly put it up to our two
remaining older competitors to deliver, and this they did in tremendous
fashion, when Sean Bolger, after qualifying earlier in the day going one
place better than his 400m National bronze two weeks earlier, with his
gutsy run which earned him silver in the U19 200m final setting the
standard for our final competitor, Anthony Lieghio.
After winning silver in the U19 1500m two weeks earlier, Anthony was
quietly confident and determined to win his first National juvenile
Indoor title before moving up to Junior and Senior level. From the gun
he was immediately in contention at the front of affairs, keeping a
close watch on the competitors around him, he monitored and reacted to
their every move, until the final lap when he took control in
devastating fashion, crossing the line almost 40m clear of his nearest
rival, to claim victory with a new PB of 1.55.
The following day in glorious weather in the Phoenix Park we had 7
juveniles contesting the 3k Bupa junior run for 8 -15yr olds amongst the
field of more than 400. Whilst Roisin O’ Hanlon and Brian Connolly were
hopeful of finishing on the podium, Niamh Devlin, Zara Gaynor, John
Daly, Jennifer Grant and 9yr old Ronan Mc Eneaney were out to enjoy the
run and finish as high up in the rankings as possible.
|
Brian leading the field |
Sonia O’ Sullivan presenting the
trophy |
On the off Brian Connolly seized the
initiative, leading the large field of competitors, he gradually
increased the gap as the race progressed and crossed the line
convincingly to claim what might be the last Irish Bupa Junior title in
a time of 9.27. Unfortunately the girls title didn’t materialise for
Roisin O’ Hanlon who fell to the ground after being accidently tripped
in the charge at the start and suffered another fall when she was again
knocked over when rising from the ground. However, despite these mishaps
which left her trailing a few hundred places behind the leaders, with a
cut and bleeding knee, she bravely regained her composure, and although
her chance for a podium position and the title were gone, she gradually
made progress as the race unwound, fighting all the way to finish 5th in
the girls category, a remarkable achievement in the circumstances.
Of our other runners, John Daly finished a few places ahead of Roisin,
and whilst young Ronan Mc Eneaney was somewhat overcome by the big
occasion before the start, he quickly settled after the off with Zara
Gaynor keeping him company until the final few hundred metres, when he
sprinted to finish in the top half of the field, followed by Zara,
Jennifer Grant and Niamh Devlin.